Love Letter
by unicornhime
Summary: ONE SHOT: Inuyasha barges into Kagome's room as usual, but this time he finds her writing something he wishes she weren't. InuKag


_This is pretty short, so let's get started, notes will be after, because I know some of you are after my head right now. I don't own Inuyasha. And before you wonder what I'm smoking, I got the idea for this in a newspaper ad I saw awhile ago…make of that what you will. Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, please don't sue me. _

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Inuyasha hefted himself out of the well, immediately assaulted by the unfamiliar smells of Kagome's world. That wench was certainly taking her precious time, wasn't she. She left him two days before in order to take those stupid "test" things. Try as he might, Inuyasha would never understand why those things were so important. Admittedly, he'd never really _tried_ to understand, but how can anything be more important than collecting shards with him?

The first night without her, Inuyasha was only a little bit fidgety, noticeable only to those who knew him all too well. He stayed within earshot of the well at all times, "just in case." The second night, he sat menacingly in his tree and stared at the well, as if he were willing Kagome's form to reappear, having successfully made all the villagers nervous during the day with his restlessness. The third day, Miroku finally got tired of his ridiculous behavior and all but shoved Inuyasha down the well. Inuyasha would have protested more, of course, but they _did_ need to get back to shard-hunting. Right?

Inuyasha climbed up the familiar tree outside Kagome's window, slid open said window, and let himself in, as always. The girl was sitting at her desk, writing something. It was so good to see her safe and sound.

…Not that he was worried or anything. Or that he'd ever say that out loud.

"Oi, wench."

Kagome jumped about a foot into the air, caught completely unaware. She hurriedly shuffled the papers she was working on into a thick red folder and turned to face her intruder, blushing slightly.

"What are you doing here? And what kind of a greeting was that?!" She demanded.

Inuyasha straightened from his crouched position from his landing, "I'm here to get you, of course, those shards aren't finding themselves. And that was _my_ greeting, idiot."

"I told you I'd come back when I was done with things here." She said, flustered. This wasn't really the reunion Inuyasha had been hoping for.

Trying to divert her apparent anger, he eyed the folder, "What's that?"

"What's what?" Her mood suddenly softened in an attempt to distract him from…whatever it was she was working on.

Those innocent eyes weren't going to work on him. At least, not this time. "Those papers, what were you writing?" He looked at her suspiciously. "They're not more 'tests' are they?"

Kagome practically leapt at the unintentional excuse. "Yeah, yeah, they are," she said hurriedly, "I had to write reports, too."

"Reports?"

"Papers, you know. Like tests, only written out in long explanations and such. They take forever to do and I'm not very good at them, especially since I've been gone so often lately…" she trailed off, well aware that she was just babbling now.

Inuyasha's suspicions eased, but only slightly. Why would she be in such a hurry to hide them from me…no, it was better not to ask. He wanted her in a good mood.

"So, are you ready to come back? I heard a rumor of strange demons a little north of the village and -"

Kagome cut him off, shaking her head, "No, I'm not ready to go back yet. I told you, I still have work to do here. I need at least another day or two." She looked at him with those pleading eyes of hers…those eyes were almost impossible to argue with. Inuyasha didn't think he could have refused anything she asked of him when she looked at him like that.

"Fine," he grunted in reply, "But I'm staying here."

Kagome's eyes widened in a brief moment of panic before she regained control over herself, but that moment did not escape Inuyasha's notice. Why was she so jumpy? "Fine, do whatever you want. But you have to let me do my work, got it?"

"Keh, whatever."

She sat back in her chair and reached for the folder. Inuyasha sat himself on her bed, fully intending to stay there until she was ready to go.

Kagome sighed, feeling Inuyasha's eyes bore into her neck. She turned around, "Inuyasha, I can't concentrate if you're staring at me. Go outside or something."

Inuyasha flushed slightly at being caught staring, but jumped out the window to the tree branch with another "keh." He could still keep an eye on her out there, or at least an ear.

"Kagome, phone!" Kagome's mother called from somewhere in the house. Kagome called back, and started to leave to answer the phone. She paused at the door and turned toward the open window.

"Inuyasha, I know you can hear me, I'll be right back. Don't touch that folder." She walked quickly out the door.

Well, now she was just begging for it. It was like telling a kid not to look in Mommy and Daddy's closet the day before Christmas. Or telling Inuyasha that Naraku was passed out in a drunken stupor around the corner with no barrier or any defense, but he couldn't go kill him because it was lunchtime.

Obviously, he was going to touch the folder.

He slowly crept back in through the window, keeping a careful ear tuned toward Kagome's voice speaking on the phone downstairs. He silently crossed the room and carefully picked up the folder from the desk. There were indeed several pages filled with Kagome's neat handwriting. Inuyasha slumped, slightly disappointed. He didn't know what he had expected, but boring pieces of paper were not it.

He peered at the handwriting, trying to connect his knowledge of feudal Japan's writing style with that which Kagome had tried to teach him.

And suddenly, he wished he hadn't.

He leafed through the many pages, catching snatches here and there:

_Every night I blow a kiss to the wind, hoping that someday it will reach your lips…_

_I'm always thinking of you – your eyes, your voice…your touch._

This was a **love letter**…a love letter that _Kagome_ wrote! A slew of emotions ran through Inuyasha's mind. Shock – who could she possibly be writing love letters to? Jealousy – she shouldn't be writing love letters to some dew-eyed idiot, she belonged with him in his time hunting shards and Naraku. Fear – wait…belong with him? Was that what he really felt? But did she want to leave that life? Leave _him_ behind? Anger – how dare she even _think_ about that? After all he'd for her and all the promises she made to him!

Unfortunately, it was during that last stage that Kagome made her re-entrance. She froze in the doorway, staring at the offending papers in Inuyasha's hands, eyes wide with something akin to fear. She moved her lips, but no sound came out. Inuyasha was similarly frozen, glaring in disbelief as his anger began to build. The air was thick with the impending confrontation.

Kagome broke the silence first with in a still, quiet voice, "I thought I asked you not to touch that, Inuyasha."

"You did," he all but growled back. "And now I can see why."

Her voice was like the quiet before the storm, "How much did you read?"

"More than enough." His eyes were fierce with a flicker of hurt as they locked with hers. "Just when were you planning on telling me this?"

The accusing tone broke the dam that was holding her anger in. "And why should I have to tell you?!" she yelled, stomping across the room to snatch the file from his claws. "When have you ever given me the slightest encouragement to even mention that kind of stuff?"

She was in his face now, eyes alight with the feeling of betrayal.

"You're blaming me?!" Inuyasha shot back in disbelief. "You're putting the blame me?! I'm not the one fawning over some stupid idiot! Especially when there are more important things to do, like, I dunno, restore the jewel and kill Naraku?"

"Stupid idiot or not, I'm hardly fawning. And when has it ever gotten in the way? You didn't even know it existed before you went snooping through my stuff!" She saw no point in denying the letters, but wasn't about to back down now.

"Not interfere?" Inuyasha snorted, "They're probably the reason you kept coming back to this time after all."

"I came back for my schoolwork!" Kagome was indignant, "Just because I hunt for the shards with you now doesn't mean I didn't have a life here before I met you. Let me repeat that for you: I had a life here! I have friends and responsibilities. I'm not going to blow those off if I have the choice!"

Inuyasha felt a prick of pain at her words. "So you are leaving, then." His voice was much softer now and he turned away from her, unable to be in such close proximity to what he could not have.

But Kagome was still going full steam, "I never said that! Are you really that thick headed? Don't those stupid papers mean anything to you? Don't they prove the exact opposite?"

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks. "Wait…what?"

"I saw an ad in the paper for a part-time job writing letters for other people and I thought I could do that to earn a little money. I thought I could do that kind of work anywhere. I didn't realize I would get assigned _love letters._ I didn't understand that you need inspiration to write that kind of stuff."

Inuyasha stared blankly at her as she continued her rant.

Kagome was pacing now, "I thought any idiot could write a love letter. But they kept rejecting those. So I wrote one with…someone in mind and they loved it." She threw the file on her desk and the papers fluttered to the floor. "But clearly that's still not enough. Clearly I'm still not good enough."

Inuyasha was thoroughly confused now, bit his anger still simmered as he growled, "Not good enough? Who the hell says you're not good enough? "

"You!" Kagome shouted, exasperated. "I wrote these stupid letters to you, you big idiot!"

"Who are you calling an – wait, huh?"

Kagome sat on the bed, anger evaporated. She leaned over to pick up the papers that had fallen on the floor. Underneath the mess was a single photograph. Quietly, she handed it to him.

"I wrote these to you." She sighed. "I know, I'm pathetic."

Flabbergasted, Inuyasha took the picture from her and stared at it, trying to comprehend her words. The picture was of the two of them under the god tree. Shippou had stolen her camera and taken it when neither of them was paying attention. Her head was on his shoulder, dozing. He was looking at her with the most tender of expressions. Inuyasha stared at it for a moment before lifting his gaze to the girl on the bed.

"You wrote these to me?"

"Duh." She stared down at the quilt on her bed.

Inuyasha stared at her for another moment, not fully comprehending. Then, all at once, it hit him. Kagome loved him. No, she couldn't possibly…not after the way he always treated her. Not after all the mistakes he made. Not after all the times he pushed her away. There was no way. But he had to make sure.

He crossed the room to crouch down in front of her. He took her chin in one hand, lifting her face so her eyes met his own, both pairs swimming in uncertainty.

"You love me?" He asked softly, his golden eyes searching her face.

"Obviously," she answered, a bit reluctantly.

His heart swelled at the word and leaned forward to crash his lips to hers. He felt her gasp, but not a second later she was kissing him back. She threw her arms around his neck and he wound one arm around her waist, shifting his other hand behind her neck.

All too soon, she pulled back, breathing heavily. "So you're not mad at me?" She asked, sheepishly.

Inuyasha barked a laugh as he pulled her into his arms again. "Of course not, you silly girl. I love you."

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_I made it! It's done! It only took six months, but I finished it! I'm so proud. I hope you liked it, please review!_

_Check my bio for more notes and whatnot. _


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